


Picking up Strays

by 0positiv



Category: Highlander: The Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Because Richie as an apprentice horseman is just such an unexplored opportunity, M/M, To Be/Not to Be Alternate universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-09-17
Packaged: 2018-05-26 02:45:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6220513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0positiv/pseuds/0positiv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Methos brings home a stray and Kronos is not impressed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is set in the alternate universe we see in To Be/Not to Be so Methos and Kronos are scheming world domination together and no Mac in sight.

"Since when are you picking up strays, brother? "

Methos looked up from his book and towards Kronos.

The other horseman was standing beside the cot the boy was sleeping on. He had been in his office when Methos had brought the boy in. Of course Kronos would have felt their approach but as was so often the case he had preferred to keep working unless there was any real sign of a threat.

It was most likely curiosity that had brought him from his work now, or maybe he was just finished with it. Either way he had come in here expecting to find just his brother and found the boy as well.

Methos still sometimes had problems judging his brother's mood but he thought Kronos did not approve of the kid being here. 

Unfolding his legs Methos stood up from the sofa and motioned for Kronos to follow him to the kitchen. No need to wake the boy up. This conversation was better had out of his earshot. 

Kronos reluctantly followed him to the kitchen and perched a flank on the table. 

"So?  Did I miss the memo that we're recruiting? "

Grabbing two beers from the fridge, opening them and handing one to Kronos bought Methos time to formulate his answer. 

"I don't think _‘He followed me home, can I keep him?’_  is going to work?  Yeah, didn't think so. "

Methos grinned sheepishly at Kronos’ unimpressed look. 

"The two of us won't be enough in the long run, Kronos. We're good apart, we're unstoppable together but every king needs his pawns. "

Kronos lifted an eyebrow. "I sure hope you aren't numbering me among the pawns, brother. "

"Of course not, you're clearly the queen!"

A big, cheeky grin spread across Methos’ face and Kronos couldn't help but laugh. 

"One of these days that mouth of yours will get you into big trouble, my friend."

He had actually missed this, Methos realised,  not just the power or the killing but the brotherhood,  the light-hearted moments that always happened between blood shed. Bantering and winding each other up and sometimes a little bit of a harmless brawl. He had missed belonging somewhere and knowing someone had his back. 

"And should I find myself in trouble I'll rest assured in the knowledge that you'll soon storm in, guns blazing, to rescue me. As you did last time, even after what I did to you. "

Methos dropped his gaze to his beer at the last sentences and started picking at the label. All that time since Kronos came crashing through Jillie’s living room window like a demon from hell they had avoided that topic. He just wasn't sure how Kronos would react, if he would seek revenge and was just waiting for the best moment or if he had truly just forgiven him. 

It was always hard to say with Kronos. He took the whole revenge is a dish best served cold to a whole new level. Some of his revenge was so old it wasn't only cold it was buried under a glacier. And yet if the opportunity presented itself he'd take his revenge even after millennia had passed. 

"So the boy is a pawn?  Not your student? "

Methos breathed a sigh of relief that Kronos apparently was happy to avoid the topic in favour of more urgent ones. Looking back up at his brother Methos gave him his best are-you-kidding-look.

"I don't take students, you know that. Sure, I'll tell him about the game and might even teach him a bit of sword fighting but he won't be my student. He'll be more like hired help, someone to do the leg work. And he'll be loyal because I saved him from all those crazy men coming after him with swords. We give him a roof over his head and some food and money and he'll eat out of our hands. Like I said, a pawn. And should we have to we'll sacrifice him. "

Methos looked very pleased with himself for finding the kid. Kronos tilted his head to the side and gave the matter some thought. 

"Yes, it will be useful to have an immortal foot soldier. One can only rely on mortals to a certain extend. I take it the kid isn't much older than he looks? "

Methos shook his head. 

"He's basically a newborn and we can shape him into anything we wish him to be."

Kronos nodded. They spent the next few minutes drinking their beers in companionable silence. After they had dumped their bottles into the trash they heard movement from the other room. 

The kid came walking in carefully like a skittish woodland creature, looking around sheepishly and running a hand through his sleep mused hair. 

"Um,  hello,  sorry,  I didn't mean to interrupt but...where do I find the bathroom around here?"

Methos stepped forward and put an arm around the boy's shoulders. 

"Brother, this is Richie. He might currently look like a street urchin but I am sure he cleans up nicely. And he's got some raw talent that could be useful for us. Richie, this is Kronos. He and I run this little operation of ours."

The boy blushed a bit at the unexpected praise.

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Kronos, and thanks for taking me in and not coming after me with a big sword and everything..." 

He trailed off under Kronos blank look and nervously rubbed the back of his neck. 

"You'll do", Kronos merely said and walked off. 

"Come on, kid,  I'll show you the bathroom and we'll find you some new clothes. You can clean up and then we can talk. "

 

"No, keep your arm up, like this,  and block my swing,  like this."

Kronos watched as Methos positioned the boy like a store mannequin. The kid had already complained that his arms ached after a mere fifteen minutes of training and by now he looked about ready to pass out. His arm holding the sword was shaking badly and dropped down again as soon as Methos let it go.

"I'm exhausted, can we take a break,  Methos? Please? "

The kid gave his brother a very good attempt at puppy dog eyes and Methos relented and sent him to the shower. 

Methos himself sat down next to Kronos to clean his sword. 

"You better watch he doesn't faint in the shower, brother. Modern boys are too soft, too weak.  We were trained to wield weapons from the time we could walk but now all they can use are computers and skateboards."

He pulled a disgusted face. 

"Don't be so harsh, brother,  the times have changed a lot. And them being weak only makes things easier for us, doesn't it? "

Kronos shrugged but still looked a bit morose. 

"Do you want to spar? Training a newbie is much more talk than action and I feel restless. Come on, Kronos. One fight, loser buys the beer for the next month? "

Methos smiled at him and nodded towards the space they had cleared for training. 

"Ok, one fight. "

Kronos got up and shrugged out of his leather jacket. He grabbed his sword and got into position, waiting for Methos. They smiled at each other for a second, eyes gleaming with excitement, then Methos attacked without warning and the fight began. 

They were still at it when Richie returned from the shower ten minutes later and he just stopped dead in his tracks as he realised what he was seeing. 

He stepped as close to the fighters as he dared and just watched them open mouthed. 

He'd never seen anyone fight like that. Their movements were so fast that he had trouble keeping up and they fought without any care for their own or the other's safety. 

When he had returned there had already been bloody cuts in both their shirts. While he watched Methos got through Kronos' defence and gave him a deep cut to his upper arm. 

Kronos merely grunted and changed the sword to the other hand while his arm healed. 

They fought like they felt no pain or exhaustion. The kid thought it was a scary yet fascinating thing to watch.

Richie didn't know how much time had passed but very suddenly the fight was over. A very tiny mistake on Methos’ part allowed Kronos to drive him to his knees and bring the sword to his neck. 

"Yield, brother. "

They were both breathing hard and sweating and Richie thought he even saw the slightest tremor in Kronos' sword arm but at the same time they looked happier than he had yet seen them. 

"I yield, Kronos."

Kronos pulled back the sword and helped Methos to his feet. 

"Good, victor gets to shower first. " 

With a smirk Kronos walked over to the bathroom while Methos watched him go with a wry smile. 

"Smug git."

Richie thought he detected a trace of affection under the put on annoyance. Methos stole the towel Richie had been dying his hair with right out of his hand and rubbed the sweat off his face and body. 

Then he walked to the kitchen and came back with two bottles of beer. He gave one to Richie and kept the other himself. 

"He can get his own when he comes back, the old shower hogger. I bet he'll use up all the hot water, too. " 

Methos let himself fall into a chair and slouched down low, the only concession to his exhaustion. 

Richie took a chair next to him and sipped his beer. 

"That fight was...just...wow. I've never seen anything like it. You're good, I mean really good."

Methos shrugged.

"We've had a lot of practice. And Kronos was already a great warrior before his first death."

Richie gave that some thought. 

"You're both really, really old,  aren't you?  I know asking an immortal how old they are is a big no-no but seriously, man, I bet you are very old. "

Methos just smiled and shrugged. 

Richie sipped from his beer again and tried to come up with a better topic of conversation. 

"So, what exactly is it you two do?  I've seen the piles of cash you keep around and the big guns, so I doubt it's anything legal. "

Methos went through different replies before settling on: "We do a bit of this, a bit of that,  really. A little import/export, a little weapons trading,  a little black mail. Kronos might not act like it or like to admit it but he makes for a more than decent hacker and I have some small computer skills myself. "

Methos gestured with the beer bottle.

"Currently we're just making money and sneaking into influential positions. Buy a politician here, a mayor there. Just get our fingers into a lot of pies. It's just the set up for a larger operation of course but we'll get there in time. "

Richie was impressed despite himself. They were just two men but it seemed that they really knew how to get what they wanted. He thought there was a lot he could learn from them and then no one would push him around ever again. 

  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AN: Here there be Methos/Kronos slash, nothing explicit but as usual: don't like don't read.

“What are you doing, brother mine?“

Methos put his elbows onto Kronos' shoulders and rested his chin on the other's head to peek at the computer screen. He had grown bored of waiting for his fellow horseman to finally emerge from his office after two hours. Sending Ryan on some hastily thought up supply mission would ensure they would not be disturbed for at least an hour.

“Ew, that's disgustingly amateurish.”

Methos pulled a face and the shoulders under his arms moved with a small shrug.

“Of course it is, we could have done ten times better, but it will be enough for my purpose.”

Tilting his head to the side Methos studied the screen once again.

“I guess one could give him points for his looks but the rest is just so sub par. I take it this is blackmailing material? While that is a fast and rather safe way for acquiring funds I find it to be rather...crude.”

Kronos scoffed, never taking his eyes off the video playing on the screen.

“We used to wear leather armour and live in tents. Crude seems right up our alley.”

Laughing quietly Methos nuzzled his brother's neck.

“I always thought you looked rather sexy in that leather armour.”

As Kronos leaned into the caress slightly, hard muscles moving under too many layers of clothing, Methos vividly remembered the spectacular sight Kronos had been last night while fighting a challenge. It had stirred a need for Kronos in him that he had thought dead and buried with their horsemen days so instead of acting on it last night he had distracted himself with work, with teaching the kid, anything but thinking about what they used to get up to after quickenings in the old days sometimes.

Kronos fighting had always been one of Methos' favourite things to watch. His brother fought like a force of nature, completely unafraid of pain or losing, and with a wild joy on his face that used to frighten more than one fellow immortal.

He was as merciless as an earthquake, as unstoppable as a hurricane, as deadly as a flood, and when he took a quickening it was him welcoming the lightning not him being savaged by it.

Every inch of him still was the ruthless warrior king looking for revenge on the killers of his people that Methos had met so many centuries ago.

And even back then he had been drawn to the younger immortal's power, his confidence and his lust for killing.

Methos had had his own revenge to take out on the world back then and together they had made whole rivers run red with blood.

But whereas after a millennium of pillaging, plundering and murdering Methos' thirst for blood and pain had been quenched Kronos' was a bottomless pit, always hungry, always craving. A black hole dressed like a man.

And now once again as he had back in the Bronze Age Methos felt that should he not be careful he might lose himself in it. But he also once again felt the old pull, the old need, that only his brother had ever brought out in him.

With a wordless sound of impatience Methos pushed the leather jacket from Kronos shoulders, pulled up the black t-shirt to run his hands over his brother's skin.

“Bed, now”, was all he managed to say and he could not even with any certainty have said which language he used but Kronos understood and complied.

Kronos had always understood him too well and yet not nearly well enough.

But for this moment it was more than enough that his brother knew every inch of his body, knew exactly which touches, which amount of pain, which caresses would drive him mad with pleasure. And after some hasty undressing, with quite a bit of damage to both their wardrobes, he proceeded to do just that.

 

Methos usually was very good at time management but today would have to be the day when the kid would surprise him by being significantly faster at doing a job than Methos had suspected.

Which was why Ryan caught them in flagranti delicto, most likely drawn by the noises that could easily have been mistaken for fighting, when he pushed open the bedroom door without knocking.

Actually, to be fair, he might have knocked but since Methos had also been too distracted to consciously feel the approaching quickening he was sure he wouldn't have heard a knock either.

He only realized that they had a visitor when Richie gasped out a shocked “I didn't need to see _that_!” and hastily pulled the door shut again.

The knife Kronos had thrown in the kid's direction hit the wood in the place Ryan's hips had occupied a second before. Grumbling about nosy brats Kronos pulled a second knife from the tangle of clothes on the floor and put it to Methos' neck.

“I swear, one of these days I will kill your whelp, Methos. Especially if he keeps interrupting at very inconvenient times.”

Methos tilted back his head, unafraid.

“You never minded an audience back in the day.”

Kronos looked thoughtful for a moment then shrugged. “That's not the point”, he managed to say before Methos pulled his head down to put his mouth to better use.

 

When they emerged from the bedroom half an hour later Ryan sheepishly apologized before avoiding their eyes, and most specifically Kronos' glare, for the rest of the night. It made Methos nearly fall off his chair laughing. Kronos just thought it was good to see his brother enjoying himself even if he had to endure the whelp acting like a blushing virgin around them for a while.

 


End file.
